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The Flicker of Old Dreams
With the quiet precision of Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres and the technical clarity of Mary Roach’s Stiff, this is a novel about a young woman who comes most alive while working in her father’s mortuary in a small, forgotten Midwestern town
“The dead come to me vulnerable, sharing their stories and secrets…”
Mary Crampton has spent all of her thirty years in Petroleum, a small Midwestern town once supported by a powerful grain company. Living at home, she works as the embalmer in her father’s mortuary: an unlikely job that has long marked her as an outsider. Yet, to Mary there is a satisfying art to positioning and styling each body to capture the essence of a subject’s life.
Though some townsfolk pretend that the community is thriving, the truth is that Petroleum is crumbling away—a process that began twenty years ago when an accident in the grain elevator killed a beloved high school athlete. The mill closed for good, the train no longer stopped in town, and Robert Golden, the victim’s younger brother, was widely blamed for the tragedy and shipped off to live elsewhere. Now, out of the blue, Robert has returned to care for his terminally ill mother. After Mary—reserved, introspective, and deeply lonely—strikes up an unlikely friendship with him, shocking the locals, she finally begins to consider what might happen if she dared to leave Petroleum.
Set in America’s heartland, The Flicker of Old Dreams explores themes of resilience, redemption, and loyalty in prose as lyrical as it is powerful.
“The dead come to me vulnerable, sharing their stories and secrets…”
Mary Crampton has spent all of her thirty years in Petroleum, a small Midwestern town once supported by a powerful grain company. Living at home, she works as the embalmer in her father’s mortuary: an unlikely job that has long marked her as an outsider. Yet, to Mary there is a satisfying art to positioning and styling each body to capture the essence of a subject’s life.
Though some townsfolk pretend that the community is thriving, the truth is that Petroleum is crumbling away—a process that began twenty years ago when an accident in the grain elevator killed a beloved high school athlete. The mill closed for good, the train no longer stopped in town, and Robert Golden, the victim’s younger brother, was widely blamed for the tragedy and shipped off to live elsewhere. Now, out of the blue, Robert has returned to care for his terminally ill mother. After Mary—reserved, introspective, and deeply lonely—strikes up an unlikely friendship with him, shocking the locals, she finally begins to consider what might happen if she dared to leave Petroleum.
Set in America’s heartland, The Flicker of Old Dreams explores themes of resilience, redemption, and loyalty in prose as lyrical as it is powerful.
320 pages, ebook
First published March 13, 2018
175 people are currently reading
2889 people want to read
About the author
Susan Henderson
3 books290 followersSusan Henderson is a Hawthornden International Fellow, a five-time Pushcart Prize nominee, and the recipient of an Academy of American Poets Award. She is the author of the novels Up from the Blue and The Flicker of Old Dreams, both published by HarperCollins. Her latest is a Montana Book Award Honor Book and winner of the High Plains Book Award for Fiction, the WILLA Literary Award for Contemporary Fiction, and the Western Writers of America Spur Award for Western Contemporary Novel. Susan is a lifetime member of the National Book Critics Circle and the NAACP. She lives in New York and blogs at the writer support group, LitPark.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 307 reviews
April 10, 2018
A small Midwestern town, a close knit community of framers, ranchers and those who work in the grain industry, these are proud, hardworking people. All this changes, when the towns golden boy, a terrific athlete is killed in a grain accident. His younger brother is working with him that day, and the town blames this young fourteen year old for the accident. The mill closes and the town slowly begins to die. Mary, a young girl already an outcast as her father is the towns funeral director and mortician. Now as an adult she helps her father in his business, has become expert at making sure the dead look their best for their visitation. Things go along, until Robert comes back to town to take care of his dying mother, the town is not willing to forgive but for Mary she sees a different side.
A very melancholic tone to this novel, the kind I tend to be drawn to time after time. Great characterizations and a wonderful look at life in a small dying town. A look at how differences in thoughts and actions divide, about being different and not fitting into the preconceived stereotypes. It is touching, written with a great deal of empathy and grace. It is a beautiful and quiet novel.
It is also an odd to the hardworking men, those who struggle against weather and other conditions beyond their control. Those who rise before sunup to take care of their livestock, work in their fields. Watching the youth of their town move away wanting a different life. Men and women who stick with the town, wanting to stay and die in the town they call their own.
It is mostly though, Mary's story as she grows and learns to look beyond the familiar. A loving look at a father and daughter, who have lived alone all of Mary's life. Working together, yet not able to talk about the important things in their lives, to discuss their feelings. Until Robert returns to town, causing many things to change.
ARC from Librarything.
A very melancholic tone to this novel, the kind I tend to be drawn to time after time. Great characterizations and a wonderful look at life in a small dying town. A look at how differences in thoughts and actions divide, about being different and not fitting into the preconceived stereotypes. It is touching, written with a great deal of empathy and grace. It is a beautiful and quiet novel.
It is also an odd to the hardworking men, those who struggle against weather and other conditions beyond their control. Those who rise before sunup to take care of their livestock, work in their fields. Watching the youth of their town move away wanting a different life. Men and women who stick with the town, wanting to stay and die in the town they call their own.
It is mostly though, Mary's story as she grows and learns to look beyond the familiar. A loving look at a father and daughter, who have lived alone all of Mary's life. Working together, yet not able to talk about the important things in their lives, to discuss their feelings. Until Robert returns to town, causing many things to change.
ARC from Librarything.
July 6, 2018
Thank you to two Goodreads friends whose splendid reviews led me to reading this wonderful book: Amalia, for the gift of initially making me aware of it, and Diane S, for reinforcing my desire to read this as soon as I could.
This novel is told in Mary’s own words and from her perspective. She has never known her mother who died giving birth to her. We know her Dad did his best as she reflects on things they shared when she was small – stories, fishing outings, and tender moments when her Dad fixed little barrettes in her hair. Mary has always wanted to fit in with her peer group but has always felt separate. Her father gave up his job at the Hardware Store and bought the Funeral Home when it had come available. As much as her father tried to fashion a normal life for them, Mary always felt set apart by the cruel nature that seems to bedevil children. They called her horrible names and would taunt her ruthlessly.
An event happened when she was five years old that hardened the declining community faster than it might otherwise have done. Two young brothers, one of them only 14 and the other a few years older were hired to stomp on the grain in the elevator to loosen the clumps that had clung together from damp. The older boy, not wearing his safety harness, jumped on a section of grain that had created a pocket, and he sank quickly out of sight below tons of wheat. The younger brother was left dangling in his harness, screaming himself hoarse for his brother and for help.
Due to this tragedy, the grain elevator was closed and the train no longer came to the small town. Many men lost their jobs and the decline of this small Montana town of 180+ people accelerated. The younger brother was blamed for the tragedy and bitterness began its slow erosion toward hatred.
”Ask most of these guys what they do for a living and they’ll name jobs they haven’t done in over twenty years. Their bodies hold the memory of their former work, like phantom limbs.
More than 20 years after the tragedy, Mary is the embalmer in her father’s Funeral Home and in her own way, has come to terms with the hard lives they live. As in any rural community, when times are good, they are good for everyone, including businesses in town; when times are bad, they are bad for everyone, too.
”You think life is built of dreams when, really, a life is made up of daily to-do lists.”
Mary’s observations about her life and lifestyle hold great insight, but it is also limited by where she lives and her sensitivity to the underlying bitterness and hatred that seems to create rot from the inside out. In her work, she is both sensitive and talented; she is also unappreciated to a large extent. ”One body, that’s all any of us get. One beautiful, maddening container for all we are and hope to be. Somewhere along the line, she and her father have lost their closeness and although they work well together, their communication is nearly non-existent.
Then, the younger brother comes back to the town to care for his dying mother. This sets off some of the people and it becomes like living on top of a keg of gunpowder, surrounded by matches. For Mary, it reawakens some long dormant feelings and dreams – ones she has swallowed and suppressed for many years.
Lyrical and poetic at times, the writing is also sharp as steel and bright as a spotlight. I couldn’t help but feel a part of this story and the place - feeling both the discomfort of ignorant prejudices and the joy of small breakthroughs. This is not a fast-paced novel but neither is it slow and plodding. It has a rhythm all of its own, where I felt soothed and lulled into a slower pace only to be shaken up by a sudden event that had me squirming with a feeling of uneasiness and even distress. And then it would cycle through again. And again. Each time, I could feel Mary’s inability to break through the barriers she had built up, but also her inability to retreat quite so far into herself.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a novel that delves deep below the surface while never losing sight of how that surface came to be.
This novel is told in Mary’s own words and from her perspective. She has never known her mother who died giving birth to her. We know her Dad did his best as she reflects on things they shared when she was small – stories, fishing outings, and tender moments when her Dad fixed little barrettes in her hair. Mary has always wanted to fit in with her peer group but has always felt separate. Her father gave up his job at the Hardware Store and bought the Funeral Home when it had come available. As much as her father tried to fashion a normal life for them, Mary always felt set apart by the cruel nature that seems to bedevil children. They called her horrible names and would taunt her ruthlessly.
An event happened when she was five years old that hardened the declining community faster than it might otherwise have done. Two young brothers, one of them only 14 and the other a few years older were hired to stomp on the grain in the elevator to loosen the clumps that had clung together from damp. The older boy, not wearing his safety harness, jumped on a section of grain that had created a pocket, and he sank quickly out of sight below tons of wheat. The younger brother was left dangling in his harness, screaming himself hoarse for his brother and for help.
Due to this tragedy, the grain elevator was closed and the train no longer came to the small town. Many men lost their jobs and the decline of this small Montana town of 180+ people accelerated. The younger brother was blamed for the tragedy and bitterness began its slow erosion toward hatred.
”Ask most of these guys what they do for a living and they’ll name jobs they haven’t done in over twenty years. Their bodies hold the memory of their former work, like phantom limbs.
More than 20 years after the tragedy, Mary is the embalmer in her father’s Funeral Home and in her own way, has come to terms with the hard lives they live. As in any rural community, when times are good, they are good for everyone, including businesses in town; when times are bad, they are bad for everyone, too.
”You think life is built of dreams when, really, a life is made up of daily to-do lists.”
Mary’s observations about her life and lifestyle hold great insight, but it is also limited by where she lives and her sensitivity to the underlying bitterness and hatred that seems to create rot from the inside out. In her work, she is both sensitive and talented; she is also unappreciated to a large extent. ”One body, that’s all any of us get. One beautiful, maddening container for all we are and hope to be. Somewhere along the line, she and her father have lost their closeness and although they work well together, their communication is nearly non-existent.
Then, the younger brother comes back to the town to care for his dying mother. This sets off some of the people and it becomes like living on top of a keg of gunpowder, surrounded by matches. For Mary, it reawakens some long dormant feelings and dreams – ones she has swallowed and suppressed for many years.
Lyrical and poetic at times, the writing is also sharp as steel and bright as a spotlight. I couldn’t help but feel a part of this story and the place - feeling both the discomfort of ignorant prejudices and the joy of small breakthroughs. This is not a fast-paced novel but neither is it slow and plodding. It has a rhythm all of its own, where I felt soothed and lulled into a slower pace only to be shaken up by a sudden event that had me squirming with a feeling of uneasiness and even distress. And then it would cycle through again. And again. Each time, I could feel Mary’s inability to break through the barriers she had built up, but also her inability to retreat quite so far into herself.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a novel that delves deep below the surface while never losing sight of how that surface came to be.
April 26, 2019
4.5 Stars
”My mother has followed us into the house. My mother is the name I’ve given his grief. She was gone long before I knew what death was so, for me, she is an abstract loss, a game of guessing at the life I might have lived.
“My mother is a collection of stories and inanimate objects. She is a wedding ring in my father’s bedside drawer, a rosehips-flavored tea bag in the back of our kitchen cupboard that we both refuse to use or throw out. She is a picture of someone standing on the rims too far away to see. She is a book underlined only to page seven. She is a pair of burnt rosebushes in the yard that Pop won’t dig up. She is the line between his eyebrows, the groove where his smile would be. She is a feeling in the gut I can’t name or move.
“It is my father’s grief that we both suffer.”
Mary’s life began as her mother’s ended, and so she has never known the woman who carried her around in her body until she was ready to greet the world. She knows the things she left behind, the things her father could never bear to part with. What few stories she has been told are by those who live in this town, a dot on a map so small that anyone driving by wouldn’t notice there was a town there, they’ve passed it by, wondering what makes people live such in such an isolated, harsh landscape. A town that is losing more every year, more residents, losing even more hope after an accident some twenty years ago at the town granary in which a high school boy, Eddie, lost his life, a death that is still blamed on his younger brother, Robert, who left town almost immediately after. The accident caused the granary to be shut down, and when the granary was shut down, the train stopped coming to their town.
Mary and her father live in town at the mortuary, which made her the target of much taunting throughout her childhood, tainted by her proximity to death. An adult now, she has never left Petroleum, Montana, where she has been the embalmer for the funeral home for some time, leaving her dreams of becoming an artist somewhat behind. She tries to convince herself that the art required to offer some comfort to the grieving families they serve is fulfilling enough for her, when the truth is that the taunting of her childhood, being labeled a “freak” has her still questioning her worth.
This was a poignant, sweet story, about the damage done to people by people, and about these small towns that are slowly fading from existence. The writing has a simple, peaceful eloquence in portraying the lives in this small town, the damage done out of ignorance, and finding the people and place we can call home.
”My mother has followed us into the house. My mother is the name I’ve given his grief. She was gone long before I knew what death was so, for me, she is an abstract loss, a game of guessing at the life I might have lived.
“My mother is a collection of stories and inanimate objects. She is a wedding ring in my father’s bedside drawer, a rosehips-flavored tea bag in the back of our kitchen cupboard that we both refuse to use or throw out. She is a picture of someone standing on the rims too far away to see. She is a book underlined only to page seven. She is a pair of burnt rosebushes in the yard that Pop won’t dig up. She is the line between his eyebrows, the groove where his smile would be. She is a feeling in the gut I can’t name or move.
“It is my father’s grief that we both suffer.”
Mary’s life began as her mother’s ended, and so she has never known the woman who carried her around in her body until she was ready to greet the world. She knows the things she left behind, the things her father could never bear to part with. What few stories she has been told are by those who live in this town, a dot on a map so small that anyone driving by wouldn’t notice there was a town there, they’ve passed it by, wondering what makes people live such in such an isolated, harsh landscape. A town that is losing more every year, more residents, losing even more hope after an accident some twenty years ago at the town granary in which a high school boy, Eddie, lost his life, a death that is still blamed on his younger brother, Robert, who left town almost immediately after. The accident caused the granary to be shut down, and when the granary was shut down, the train stopped coming to their town.
Mary and her father live in town at the mortuary, which made her the target of much taunting throughout her childhood, tainted by her proximity to death. An adult now, she has never left Petroleum, Montana, where she has been the embalmer for the funeral home for some time, leaving her dreams of becoming an artist somewhat behind. She tries to convince herself that the art required to offer some comfort to the grieving families they serve is fulfilling enough for her, when the truth is that the taunting of her childhood, being labeled a “freak” has her still questioning her worth.
This was a poignant, sweet story, about the damage done to people by people, and about these small towns that are slowly fading from existence. The writing has a simple, peaceful eloquence in portraying the lives in this small town, the damage done out of ignorance, and finding the people and place we can call home.
July 17, 2017
I first read this novel in manuscript, and I was so completely undone by it in the best possible way that I pushed the author into changing agents and she immediately got a book deal. It's about a female mortician, about a childhood tragedy that still haunts a man, about the endless landscape of small towns, the hope of love, and it is exquisitely written. I cannot say enough about this novel except YOU HAVE TO READ IT BECAUSE YOU WILL ADORE IT, TOO!
Caroline
Caroline
June 5, 2021
Small town rural America. Sometimes with populations so small, here it's less than 200, crazy ideas and notions spread like wildfire. In Petroleum, home to Mary Crampton and her father, the town's funeral director, everyone blames Robert Golden for the accidental death of his brother, years ago when Robert was fourteen. It's all nonsensical, but then small town thinking can at times be just that. When Robert comes back to town to help his ailing mother, Mary is his lone supporter, much to the chagrin of her father and all of the funeral home's future clients.
A beautifully written, sad story.
A beautifully written, sad story.
July 30, 2018
If I had known the story within the covers prior to reading it I don t think I would have chosen to read it BUT I would have missed a gem. I truly do not know how to describe this book. Beautifully written ,compelling yet at the same time very intimate...hauntingly sad but hopeful . I believe that the characters (especially Mary ) will stay tucked in my heart for a very long time.
September 19, 2025
A sad depressing book about a dying town in Montana, with no real redemption for disappointing characters. This has gotten some good reviews so don't go by my opinion.
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June 7, 2018So excited & unbelievably grateful for this generous, 2-page review of THE FLICKER OF OLD DREAMS in Publishers Weekly! https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...
Here is an interview with my editor, Sara Nelson: https://youtu.be/1tS6MHJqehk
And here's a compilation of reviews: http://www.litpark.com/the-flicker-of...
Here is an interview with my editor, Sara Nelson: https://youtu.be/1tS6MHJqehk
And here's a compilation of reviews: http://www.litpark.com/the-flicker-of...
August 31, 2022
[4+] A quiet, graceful novel about a 30-year old woman at a crossroads in her life. Mary works as an embalmer in her father's funeral home and lives a solitary, lonely life in a small, intolerant town. An outstanding character study of her gradual awakening. I couldn't put it down.
March 19, 2018
A small, once thriving town called Petroleum, surrounded by farmers and ranchers and open land out West, is the main focus of this book.
A horrible deadly incident in the grainary shaft causes the town to become unmoored. It causes the townspeople to wrongly make blame and also to never forget or forgive. It will be the end all curse to the town’s livelihood and debilitating descent. Its closure causes the farmers to go away, farther down the road to another town to do their business of corn and wheat processing. Agricultural business that has taken away jobs and money and people from Petroleum.
Throughout the book we discover how wrong and how damaging this event was, as well as how thoughts and feelings contribute to the demise of the people and the town. However, with only an occasional passer by or someone actually leaving Petroleum for brighter horizons, it’s the same citizens, nursing the same regrets, the same slights, the continuing downward spiral. The next generation is no better, following in the footsteps of the sins of their fathers. Unless you get yourself out, history has a way of repeating itself. It’s a never ending cycle in a failing town.
This is a haunting, tender, emotional read of the Clampton’s; the father and his only daughter, Mary, who run the towns’ only funeral home out of their house. Mary’s mother died during her birth so Mary has not had a female maternal presence in her life growing up. Growing up, she was constantly ostracized by other kids and called names; now as an adult, she is not socially comfortable and continues to live with and take care of her Father, at times handling the embalming responsibilities by herself or sometimes with her Father.
Her father got into the funeral business by accident, and he works this up socially as a true businessman, because at some point in time, those people will be coming to him for his business. His clothes and personality and demeanor are always top notch in public but once home, behind closed doors, he collapses into himself, with exhaustion, depression, loneliness and alcohol.
Mary, who did not have a normal childhood, exposes herself at an early age to a dead body in the mortuary in the basement and gets involved in the funerary proceedings which happen in the parlor and basement at the house. She not only physically and mentally accepts this, but likes it, and starts helping, then taking over for her father in preparing the deceased. Mary has a deep connection and ultimate respect for the deceased as she prepares them for the funeral showing. She takes her time preparing - washing them, styling their hair, dressing them, applying make up... She sits with them quietly, holding their hands and remembers them when they were alive. Her feelings and ministrations as she works on them are so genuine and so peaceful. I was impressed and touched with the personal care and concern she showed to the dead. I’m sure that’s not the norm.
Mary had aspirations when in school to become an artist. Well, that of course was not about to happen in this small, self-insulated town, so as she began to take over responsibilities of the funeral home, covering for her struggling father’s inadequacies and drinking, she took her art skills into transforming the dead into the best of what they were in life. With exquisite care and extreme reverence, she often worked on the bodies well into the night because she wanted to replicate them as they looked in real life.
Because this is such a small town, the funeral business of course, is not booming, so Mary and her father are financially unstable. There are stacks of unpaid bills on the table; most folks here don’t have the money to pay for a funeral, but will barter with other means of payment; that’s how much of a struggle it is for the people of this town. It’s quite sad and depressing; everyone who stays in this town is “stuck” staying for one reason or another. Not many venture out to strike out on their own, go somewhere else. Those who do, usually don’t come back and those that do, are not welcome. And so this brings us to Robert.
Robert is the younger brother of Eddie, the town’s golden boy and apple of his parents’ eyes. Eddie is the boy who tragically died young and in his prime, in the grainary bin accident, with his younger brother Robert, harnessed above him, also working in the bin, but spared from sinking into the air pockets of corn by his harness apparatus. Eddie was not wearing one.
There is fallout to the town after this catastrophic event. There is fallout to that family and among the townsfolk.
Robert returns to Petroleum after many years of being sent away to live with an aunt after the accident. The townsfolk are so quick to judge that he is only back now to get money from his mother, Doris’ impending death from terminal lung cancer. They have no idea what the family has gone through, or what Robert has gone through. He is shunned and threatened by the townfolk as soon as he comes back. The town sheriff chooses to turn his back on the incidents.
Robert comes to the funeral home to make preparations for his mother’s impending death and Mary is intrigued by him and it brings back questions, memories, but it also opens up her eyes and mind to how stifled she is here in this town, giving up her art aspirations, taking care of her Father, running the mortuary, having no friends, no experiences outside of this decaying town.
As they interact, Robert shares more background of his life growing up with Eddie and his parents, details of the accident and how it all impacted him, and his current life in Seattle. It is a spark that ignites Mary into a friendship/relationship with him, that must be hidden or there would be repercussions toward her (and her Father) for getting involved with “the enemy.” This town does not forgive, nor does it forget.
In time, Mary’s Father realizes that she and Robert have more than just funeral business between them. And does he perceive this as a threat? When Robert’s mother passes away at the start of a huge snowstorm that paralyzes the funeral and burial plans, a huge insult and betrayal occurs. It is a very sad and very selfish act of desperation and fear.
I felt every emotion of each character in this book. They were very well done and woven together in and around the town’s history and current state of affairs. 5 Star poignant, unsettling, haunting and hopeful. I wish Mary the best; she has sacrificed her entire life to her Father and to the town and to the funeral business. There is so much more out there in the world for her and the others, if they should choose to take that opportunity.
A horrible deadly incident in the grainary shaft causes the town to become unmoored. It causes the townspeople to wrongly make blame and also to never forget or forgive. It will be the end all curse to the town’s livelihood and debilitating descent. Its closure causes the farmers to go away, farther down the road to another town to do their business of corn and wheat processing. Agricultural business that has taken away jobs and money and people from Petroleum.
Throughout the book we discover how wrong and how damaging this event was, as well as how thoughts and feelings contribute to the demise of the people and the town. However, with only an occasional passer by or someone actually leaving Petroleum for brighter horizons, it’s the same citizens, nursing the same regrets, the same slights, the continuing downward spiral. The next generation is no better, following in the footsteps of the sins of their fathers. Unless you get yourself out, history has a way of repeating itself. It’s a never ending cycle in a failing town.
This is a haunting, tender, emotional read of the Clampton’s; the father and his only daughter, Mary, who run the towns’ only funeral home out of their house. Mary’s mother died during her birth so Mary has not had a female maternal presence in her life growing up. Growing up, she was constantly ostracized by other kids and called names; now as an adult, she is not socially comfortable and continues to live with and take care of her Father, at times handling the embalming responsibilities by herself or sometimes with her Father.
Her father got into the funeral business by accident, and he works this up socially as a true businessman, because at some point in time, those people will be coming to him for his business. His clothes and personality and demeanor are always top notch in public but once home, behind closed doors, he collapses into himself, with exhaustion, depression, loneliness and alcohol.
Mary, who did not have a normal childhood, exposes herself at an early age to a dead body in the mortuary in the basement and gets involved in the funerary proceedings which happen in the parlor and basement at the house. She not only physically and mentally accepts this, but likes it, and starts helping, then taking over for her father in preparing the deceased. Mary has a deep connection and ultimate respect for the deceased as she prepares them for the funeral showing. She takes her time preparing - washing them, styling their hair, dressing them, applying make up... She sits with them quietly, holding their hands and remembers them when they were alive. Her feelings and ministrations as she works on them are so genuine and so peaceful. I was impressed and touched with the personal care and concern she showed to the dead. I’m sure that’s not the norm.
Mary had aspirations when in school to become an artist. Well, that of course was not about to happen in this small, self-insulated town, so as she began to take over responsibilities of the funeral home, covering for her struggling father’s inadequacies and drinking, she took her art skills into transforming the dead into the best of what they were in life. With exquisite care and extreme reverence, she often worked on the bodies well into the night because she wanted to replicate them as they looked in real life.
Because this is such a small town, the funeral business of course, is not booming, so Mary and her father are financially unstable. There are stacks of unpaid bills on the table; most folks here don’t have the money to pay for a funeral, but will barter with other means of payment; that’s how much of a struggle it is for the people of this town. It’s quite sad and depressing; everyone who stays in this town is “stuck” staying for one reason or another. Not many venture out to strike out on their own, go somewhere else. Those who do, usually don’t come back and those that do, are not welcome. And so this brings us to Robert.
Robert is the younger brother of Eddie, the town’s golden boy and apple of his parents’ eyes. Eddie is the boy who tragically died young and in his prime, in the grainary bin accident, with his younger brother Robert, harnessed above him, also working in the bin, but spared from sinking into the air pockets of corn by his harness apparatus. Eddie was not wearing one.
There is fallout to the town after this catastrophic event. There is fallout to that family and among the townsfolk.
Robert returns to Petroleum after many years of being sent away to live with an aunt after the accident. The townsfolk are so quick to judge that he is only back now to get money from his mother, Doris’ impending death from terminal lung cancer. They have no idea what the family has gone through, or what Robert has gone through. He is shunned and threatened by the townfolk as soon as he comes back. The town sheriff chooses to turn his back on the incidents.
Robert comes to the funeral home to make preparations for his mother’s impending death and Mary is intrigued by him and it brings back questions, memories, but it also opens up her eyes and mind to how stifled she is here in this town, giving up her art aspirations, taking care of her Father, running the mortuary, having no friends, no experiences outside of this decaying town.
As they interact, Robert shares more background of his life growing up with Eddie and his parents, details of the accident and how it all impacted him, and his current life in Seattle. It is a spark that ignites Mary into a friendship/relationship with him, that must be hidden or there would be repercussions toward her (and her Father) for getting involved with “the enemy.” This town does not forgive, nor does it forget.
In time, Mary’s Father realizes that she and Robert have more than just funeral business between them. And does he perceive this as a threat? When Robert’s mother passes away at the start of a huge snowstorm that paralyzes the funeral and burial plans, a huge insult and betrayal occurs. It is a very sad and very selfish act of desperation and fear.
I felt every emotion of each character in this book. They were very well done and woven together in and around the town’s history and current state of affairs. 5 Star poignant, unsettling, haunting and hopeful. I wish Mary the best; she has sacrificed her entire life to her Father and to the town and to the funeral business. There is so much more out there in the world for her and the others, if they should choose to take that opportunity.
December 12, 2017
This novel transported me into a world so different than my own, a small farming town on the verge of becoming a ghost town, torn apart by a horrible accident. The main character, Mary Crampton, is a mortician's daughter who takes on the family business because of feelings of responsibility and gives up her own dreams. Her feelings of alienation, an outsider in her small town, and longing for love are palpable. Her courage in both small and, eventually, large ways is endearing. I don't want to give away the plot, so I'll just say this: I loved this book, and I was sorry when it ended -- but also extremely satisfied.
June 15, 2021
I loved this book. I loved the themes of being an outsider and wanting to be accepted into an environment even though we can see how intolerant and closed that environment is. My heart ached for Mary and her father, who love each other but have no idea how to express that love or stop hurting and misunderstanding each other. I love how each character is presented. I especially loved how we are shown how a place and its people create their own history and mythology and cling to that created history even when it is destroying the very place they love.
March 21, 2018
Although Mary Crampton had dreams of being an artist when she was younger, she stayed on in the dying town of Petroleum. She lives with her father in the town’s funeral home and works as the embalmer. She now directs her art to the deceased that she works on, making them appear to be almost alive to help their loved ones through the funeral services. She’s a lonely woman and uncomfortable socializing. She feels more at ease with the dead than with the living. The local children taunt her and call her “Freak”.
Petroleum is a struggling town and has been disintegrating since an accident twenty years prior took the life of a beloved high school athlete, Eddie Golden. His younger brother, Robert, only 14 years old at the time, was blamed for the accident. The granary was shut down and the train no longer came to town. But now Robert’s mother is dying and Robert has returned to Petroleum to care for her. When Mary becomes friends with Robert, it sets off old resentments throughout the town and ignites old dreams in Mary’s heart.
This is a tender, heartfelt, gem of a book. Every word of it made its way into my heart to stay. This is a very talented author who writes like a poet with a powerful emotional punch. I found this book to be completely breathtaking and I read it in a single day as I couldn’t bear to part with it. So lovely, so haunting, so human.
Most highly recommended.
This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.
Petroleum is a struggling town and has been disintegrating since an accident twenty years prior took the life of a beloved high school athlete, Eddie Golden. His younger brother, Robert, only 14 years old at the time, was blamed for the accident. The granary was shut down and the train no longer came to town. But now Robert’s mother is dying and Robert has returned to Petroleum to care for her. When Mary becomes friends with Robert, it sets off old resentments throughout the town and ignites old dreams in Mary’s heart.
This is a tender, heartfelt, gem of a book. Every word of it made its way into my heart to stay. This is a very talented author who writes like a poet with a powerful emotional punch. I found this book to be completely breathtaking and I read it in a single day as I couldn’t bear to part with it. So lovely, so haunting, so human.
Most highly recommended.
This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.
June 23, 2021
3 stars
The story about how one unforeseen event can change a life. Mary has always been an outcast. She was shunned as a child for living in a mortuary. Going into the family business she became an embalmer, which did nothing to endear her to the community. But the return of a dying neighbors son - who was also shunned by the community - starts a chain of events that changes Mary's life and gives her the courage to move forward.
A story told in the vein of Anne Tyler or Ann Quindlin - the process of everyday life.
The story about how one unforeseen event can change a life. Mary has always been an outcast. She was shunned as a child for living in a mortuary. Going into the family business she became an embalmer, which did nothing to endear her to the community. But the return of a dying neighbors son - who was also shunned by the community - starts a chain of events that changes Mary's life and gives her the courage to move forward.
A story told in the vein of Anne Tyler or Ann Quindlin - the process of everyday life.
May 22, 2018
To me, this book was a downer. That said, the author did make much of it a powerful song of love and tribute for a way of life that is fading from much of this country. She paints the hardy and resilient communities who carry on the, usually, thankless jobs of ranching clearly. Where I got lost was in the narrowness of those same people and their casual disregard for others.
March 14, 2018
Haunting tale of a dying town and a mortician's daughter aching to live life. Beautiful writing and a strong story filled with extraordinary detail. I loved it.
April 22, 2018
Twenty years before the actual story gets underway, tragedy struck the small town of Petroleum. A beloved high school athlete died in a bizarre accident in a local mill’s grain elevator. This shocking incident forever changed Petroleum, as the mill closed down and a number of people became unemployed. The main culprit turned out to be the victim’s 14-year-old brother, Robert Golden. The residents of Petroleum were ruthless and cruel to Robert, and made him leave the town soon after.
Fast forward two decades later, and the town is in the same place as it was immediately following the tragedy --- in a permanent state of latent depression. But then Robert comes back; his mother is dying, and he wants to spend her final days with her. His return stirs the town’s ghosts, but it also brings a positive change to the life of 30-year-old Mary Crampton.
Mary is an embalmer who works in her father’s mortuary. She has been a resident of Petroleum her entire life; her mother died while giving birth to her, and she didn’t have the courage to leave her father. Both the children and adults find her to be strange and are mean to her. Like everybody else, Mary has dreams. Yet she has buried hers deep inside, and painstakingly tries to fit in with a town that refuses to accept her. Mary and Robert are the outcasts, which is what brings them together. Robert’s return and their short-term friendship will force Mary to wake up from her dormant life and unearth her dreams.
Full review available at: Bookreporter
Fast forward two decades later, and the town is in the same place as it was immediately following the tragedy --- in a permanent state of latent depression. But then Robert comes back; his mother is dying, and he wants to spend her final days with her. His return stirs the town’s ghosts, but it also brings a positive change to the life of 30-year-old Mary Crampton.
Mary is an embalmer who works in her father’s mortuary. She has been a resident of Petroleum her entire life; her mother died while giving birth to her, and she didn’t have the courage to leave her father. Both the children and adults find her to be strange and are mean to her. Like everybody else, Mary has dreams. Yet she has buried hers deep inside, and painstakingly tries to fit in with a town that refuses to accept her. Mary and Robert are the outcasts, which is what brings them together. Robert’s return and their short-term friendship will force Mary to wake up from her dormant life and unearth her dreams.
Full review available at: Bookreporter
September 20, 2025
2.5 stars.
The setting here is a small, isolated Montana ranching town called Petroleum, population 182, that lacks traffic lights, paved roads and a real doctor. It does have a school, a grocery, a diner, a hotel, a post office, and a mortuary called Crampton Funeral Home - business and residence of widower Allen Crampton and his 30-year-old unmarried daughter Mary. Allen manages the business's finances and service planning; Mary handles the bodies. There is also a returned native son named Robert Golden, scorned and exiled twenty years earlier as a young teenager after a grain elevator accident kills his older brother while the two are unclogging a grain jam. The accident eventually results in the elevator being shut down, leaving scores of local men unemployed. Those men have never forgotten nor forgiven the blameless Robert. When Robert returns to Petroleum to help care for his dying mother, this town once again shows its ugly side.
There was much potential in these threads and these people and this place, but the story never came together for me. It actually became a disjointed and depressing quagmire of petty hostilities, tedious misunderstandings and infuriating meddling that led nowhere. There was no one to root for really, no one to bond with. The bright spot, however, was some beautiful landscape writing that made me want to visit this vast, open state. This author has won several awards for her poetry and fiction, and her work has earned positive reviews by other Goodreads members, so don't let my comments discourage you from picking this one up. As most of us already know, no two persons ever read the same book.
The setting here is a small, isolated Montana ranching town called Petroleum, population 182, that lacks traffic lights, paved roads and a real doctor. It does have a school, a grocery, a diner, a hotel, a post office, and a mortuary called Crampton Funeral Home - business and residence of widower Allen Crampton and his 30-year-old unmarried daughter Mary. Allen manages the business's finances and service planning; Mary handles the bodies. There is also a returned native son named Robert Golden, scorned and exiled twenty years earlier as a young teenager after a grain elevator accident kills his older brother while the two are unclogging a grain jam. The accident eventually results in the elevator being shut down, leaving scores of local men unemployed. Those men have never forgotten nor forgiven the blameless Robert. When Robert returns to Petroleum to help care for his dying mother, this town once again shows its ugly side.
There was much potential in these threads and these people and this place, but the story never came together for me. It actually became a disjointed and depressing quagmire of petty hostilities, tedious misunderstandings and infuriating meddling that led nowhere. There was no one to root for really, no one to bond with. The bright spot, however, was some beautiful landscape writing that made me want to visit this vast, open state. This author has won several awards for her poetry and fiction, and her work has earned positive reviews by other Goodreads members, so don't let my comments discourage you from picking this one up. As most of us already know, no two persons ever read the same book.
March 7, 2018
Susan will be on a panel of mine at Literary Orange in April 2018 so I received the book--and I read it in two days. I LOVED it. It's not necessarily the type of novel I'm attracted to. I thought it would be a quiet novel with not a lot going on but man, is there a lot going on. The main characters were wonderful and the writing was top-notch. Really loved it and am so glad I'm moderating a panel with Susan. She'll also be on my radio show sometime soon.
January 10, 2018
This book squeezed my insides and I found tears being forced out of my eyes a few times. The slow, stark atmosphere absorbed me. This town, hollowed out yet still there, felt so real (along with the characters inhabiting it). The central theme of loss in its many forms is a constant presence, touching and weighting everything else, slowing them down, making them thick and heavy. Add in the perfectly captured feeling of being an outsider, carrying it around inside you, and it’s no wonder I felt tethered and pulled to this book.
I can’t say it was a joy to read, because that’s not the type of book this is, but it was an experience I’m glad to have had. I ended up reading most of it straight through because I found it hard to jump in and out of, it was much better to me if I just stayed in for the whole journey. I might say there were a few places it slowed down just a tidge too much, or waxed poetic, or became repetitive, even though for the most part the pacing fit the mood and tale - but it might not be for everyone due to the slow nature.
I can’t say it was a joy to read, because that’s not the type of book this is, but it was an experience I’m glad to have had. I ended up reading most of it straight through because I found it hard to jump in and out of, it was much better to me if I just stayed in for the whole journey. I might say there were a few places it slowed down just a tidge too much, or waxed poetic, or became repetitive, even though for the most part the pacing fit the mood and tale - but it might not be for everyone due to the slow nature.
May 17, 2021
This was a pretty formulaic novel. Two people who are unfairly shunned by their small town find love, both for each other and for themselves. This book did not work for me. I thought the author did far more telling than showing. And what she did tell the reader, she repeated endlessly. At the same time we were beat over the head with the narrator’s social awkwardness, the lack of acceptance by the town’s people, the unfair way the young boy was blamed for the accident that killed his brother or the town’s economic decline in the past 20 years, other elements were given inadequate attention. Why is the residents of this small town so cruel to a grieving 14 year old or to a little girl whose mother died in child birth? What would make a mother send her 14 year old away from the taunts of a town while staying to serve that same town as its music teacher? This was probably a 1.5 star read for me.
April 14, 2021
This was such an amazing story and so beautifully written. Petroleum is a dying midwestern town with less than 200 residents. Everyone knows everyone and their business. Grudges are held and forgiveness rare. Work has become scarce after a grain elevator incident that crippled the town. Mary is the embalmer who works with her father in the mortuary. Because of her occupation she is an outsider and taunted and feared by children and even adults. She leads a lonely life but takes pride in her art of embalming. She is an artist in bringing dignity to the dead. When Robert, the son of a dying resident, returns home to take care of his mother the town and Mary’s life are turned upside down. This story is powerful, the descriptions of the town trying to stay alive are vivid, and the mindset of the community heart wrenching. I highly recommend.
January 16, 2018
In this quietly powerful novel, a young woman working in her father's funeral home considers life beyond the boundaries of the dying Midwestern town in which she has spent all her life. This character-driven novel with a strong sense of place will resonate with readers who enjoy Kent Haruf's novels or Christopher Scotton's The Secret Wisdom of the Earth. Thanks to the publisher for providing me with this advance reading copy.
February 19, 2020
This book was absolutely fantastic. As a girl who grew up in a small Montana town myself, I felt intimately connected to this novel. The story is extremely well-done, and I felt all the feelings in reading this. I myself felt the call to escape from small town life, and felt the pressure to adhere to a very specific set of standards. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves great character building and stories about small towns.
March 21, 2018
It is hard to imagine a western town so primitive and remote it has yet to be impacted by Amazon or a local Kohls. But no need for a Chamber of Commerce in Petroleum for there is virtually no commerce. Or customers. With a population of 178, a number that continually dwindles as residents die or move away, life remains unchanged. Until a once vilified teen returns home to care for his dying mother and reconnects with the one neighbor who is not offended by his presence.
In Susan Henderson’s THE FLICKER OF OLD DREAMS, a novel you don’t read as much as get instantly absorbed by, we meet Mary Crampton, the funeral director’s daughter and Robert Golden, the boy held responsible for his brother’s tragic death in a grain elevator accident. His death spurred the closing of the granary and the ultimate blow to Petroleum’s economy which should signal the end of the story. But Ms. Henderson, one of the most compelling and daring writers of our time, explores the meaning of heart and home in ways that open doors not shut them.
In lesser hands, the narrative would be a messy word salad instead of the exquisite, poetic chronicle of humanity that it is. And able hands are indeed where the story delves. Thirty-year-old Mary, now the resident embalmer, treats each of the dead with more dignity than they may have known while breathing. Using surgical tools, machines and personal care items like cotton balls and nail polish, she painstakingly sutures, powders and massages the deceased, even manipulating their lips and cheeks to duplicate their exact smile so mourners will pay last respects with admiration. But it is Mary’s compassion and artistry that come to life when she squeezes the remaining fluids out of organs and stitches closed every orifice to inhibit offending odors. “The dead come to me vulnerable, sharing their stories and secrets,” she says. And before their flabby, scarred and bruised bodies are lowered into the ground, she will work into the night to make sure they are remembered for their true beauty.
If only Mary could use her artistic talent to become a famous painter as she once hoped. Leave Petroleum and her widowed father to find true love. See the ocean. Smell salt air instead of the stench of livestock dung. Perhaps the return of Robert will wake up those dormant dreams. Reveal her courage. Give her reason to spread her angel wings.
THE FLICKER OF OLD DREAMS is a rich and haunting read that begs the question are we better off dead than alive. Or are they the same thing if we never pursue our passions?
In Susan Henderson’s THE FLICKER OF OLD DREAMS, a novel you don’t read as much as get instantly absorbed by, we meet Mary Crampton, the funeral director’s daughter and Robert Golden, the boy held responsible for his brother’s tragic death in a grain elevator accident. His death spurred the closing of the granary and the ultimate blow to Petroleum’s economy which should signal the end of the story. But Ms. Henderson, one of the most compelling and daring writers of our time, explores the meaning of heart and home in ways that open doors not shut them.
In lesser hands, the narrative would be a messy word salad instead of the exquisite, poetic chronicle of humanity that it is. And able hands are indeed where the story delves. Thirty-year-old Mary, now the resident embalmer, treats each of the dead with more dignity than they may have known while breathing. Using surgical tools, machines and personal care items like cotton balls and nail polish, she painstakingly sutures, powders and massages the deceased, even manipulating their lips and cheeks to duplicate their exact smile so mourners will pay last respects with admiration. But it is Mary’s compassion and artistry that come to life when she squeezes the remaining fluids out of organs and stitches closed every orifice to inhibit offending odors. “The dead come to me vulnerable, sharing their stories and secrets,” she says. And before their flabby, scarred and bruised bodies are lowered into the ground, she will work into the night to make sure they are remembered for their true beauty.
If only Mary could use her artistic talent to become a famous painter as she once hoped. Leave Petroleum and her widowed father to find true love. See the ocean. Smell salt air instead of the stench of livestock dung. Perhaps the return of Robert will wake up those dormant dreams. Reveal her courage. Give her reason to spread her angel wings.
THE FLICKER OF OLD DREAMS is a rich and haunting read that begs the question are we better off dead than alive. Or are they the same thing if we never pursue our passions?
September 2, 2017
I was lucky enough to snag an ARC of this extraordinary novel, which I urge you to read. In Mary Crampton, a funeral home worker in a dying Montana town, Susan Henderson has crafted a real and interesting character—sad but strong, a motherless outlier who has never been embraced by the citizens of her community, where she has lived her entire life: thirty years. Living through her subtle transformation feels powerful and satisfying. As someone who grew up in North Dakota, I also appreciated how the author made the land and landscape a virtual character, and captured the fierce loyalty that borders on paralysis of locals who stay in a withering town, no matter what. Now, the embalming details. I know NOTHING about how this works, and found it fascinating, creepy and memorable to learn about the process. The book's descriptions will stick with me forever, as will my hopes for Mary (and her father and Robert, a local outcast and Mary'spossible love-interest,) hoping they will all find fulfillment.
March 13, 2018
Susan Henderson’s stunning new novel, The Flicker of Old Dreams, thoughtfully explores themes of redemption, forgiveness, resilience, and love. And, true to it’s title, asks whether it’s ever too late to pursue one’s dreams. Years ago, a terrible accident shut down the mill in Petroleum, and as a result, the small midwestern town has been slowly dying out. The residents of Petroleum turned their desperate, misplaced anger on the victim’s brother, Robert Golden, who left town soon after the accident. Still an outcast, he returns home to care for his terminally ill mother and is befriended by the local mortician, Mary Crampton. Herself an outsider, Mary is drawn to Robert, and for the first time in her life she considers leaving her home in pursuit of her long-buried dreams. Susan Henderson captures the essence of life in rural America with stunning imagery, lyric prose, and depth of feeling. You can read my interview with Susan here: https://bookclubbabble.com/the-flicke...
January 18, 2018
Susan Henderson's every sentence is a treasure in this contemplative but gripping story of life in a small town that time seems to have forgotten. Hanging on by their proverbial coattails, the people of "Petroleum" Montana somehow go on living despite the devastating loss of their main source of income and employment years before to a tragic accident. Protagonist Mary Crampton, however, is mostly preoccupied with the dying, or more specifically, the dead. It's in the descriptions of Mary's work at her family funeral home where some of the most compelling, deep and philosophical moments in the book emerge. In a time when people are divided across more lines than not, Henderson manages to remind us of the ways we are more alike than different. I savored every sentence, and didn't want it to end.
January 17, 2018
Just finished reading this book which I received as an uncorrected proof. Publication is March 2018. Highly recommended.
February 10, 2018
This book heartbreaking, lovely, tender, bold, and masterful. Beautiful, lyrical writing. And an unforgettable story. A real pleasure.
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